Wessington Springs herald. (Wessington Springs, Aurora County, Dakota [S.D.]) 1883-1891, 1887-01-14
how the Various Clews Were Made
to Fit with Mathematical
Accuracy.
Prom the Chicago Daily Nevs,l

miles from st LOUIS. Detectives were sent out |
on enon the trims from that station and
IN. Inc fnkertons then secured list of
the employees, past and prerent. OF the
xas aa h Who Who
had formerly been on the run between triscori
Junction and vinita. on which the robbery lad
had been acquainted With Ectheringham It
Vas learned that he had res,aed III Chicag \, ut
24s Huron street with his vito 8 aunt: He had
teettves finally asceltained thst he had lived
with family named Williams, ut 70 Arbor
pace. and that ON Oct 81 he had LEFT that
later his wife received q letter containing
money, and Immediately afterwar,l she pre-
pared to leave. reporting that she was going to
Among the mon whom, HaigLt had worked for
In Chicago were Fled Wittrock, a coal dealer ut
VI West Lake street. and Thomas Weaver. tho
street: From these facts the detectives do
rived their first clew. They armed that Witt
rock and Weaver had left Chicago on tho 18th
sas to look for land and to hunt. They took
with them two sachels and two fowling- pieces.
me description OF Wttrock tailed with that
messenger Fotheringham. Weaver returned
to Chicago On October %.
In the meantime Fotheringham was making
nocence. He said the robber, who had told him
MS name nan! Was Jim Cummings would exoner-
ate him. Then came the first OF the celebrated
Jim Cummings letters
Ear!y last January" said Cummings In the
letter. Il started out with Id poor partner
70 sec II We couldn't make stake by holding
1went to Ohio where met man named Tom
Raiffe, who hal once been an express messen.
ger on the run between St Louis and Vinita. I
learned the name Of tho route ag. Mt John D.
Barrett, and conceived the plan OF counterfeit
ing the headings Of tue express company
Cummings then went into the details and
h vxy +$pl$ n1.:~
great care to shield Fotherngham from any
blame. From this letter the detectives gathered
several clews. They knew that Wi;trock and
Haiaht were acquainted; that Haisht had been
messenger on the run mentioned, and that no
such man as Tom Rattle had ever worked for
the company. The detectives secured In Chi:
cage number Of bills which WittrOck had
made out in his coal business and forwarded
them to st. Louis Experts decided that he
Jim Cummings letters and the coal bills were
written by the same man. The only difference
was that the bills were made out in q flowing
hand, while the letter was in backhand.
Ina letter Cummings had told about a skiff
which would be found up the Missouri river,
q few mtles from st. harles. He also told of O
package which he had left i'll the EXPRESS o lice,
withfhe intention Of showing that Fotierngham
had no connection with the robbery. The de-
tectives found the skn Us describn d. fully pro-
visioned as il for q fshing"trip They also OBJ
sk II s. 81 the h
the persons was described in manner to CORE
spond with the alleged robber. accord ns to
rock to the minds Of those v no knew him in Chi
cago. The description Of the smaller man tai
lied with that Of Weaver. The most important
clew was the fact that two guns were found
in the skiff. When the reports Of the detectives
reached headquarters in Chicago it was re-
membered that Weaver and w ittrock left on the
on was Swallowed, but trace could be OBJ
tanned Of Wittrook TIL, package left in the
express Office and mentioned in Cummings let
ter was found to consist OF several rolls Cheap
street
q memorandum, "210s Chesnut street, Inquiry
at that address III st. Louis revealed that two
men had rented room there on the 18th. Each
carried valise The house was kept by d Mrs.
Berry, and She her son, and her daug liter gave
descriptions which closely correspondent to
those in the possession OF the Pinkertons.
few days later the detectives visited Mrs.
Berry. the rewarded them by turning over n
lead seal of the Adams Express Company. and
room occupied by the strangers The smaller
man left on the 2lst Weaver returned to Chi
cago on the I'D. While at Mrs: Berry's the
lialns On the 18th tthe night of the robbery
this man left Mrs Berry's, saying he was going
to kansas City It was away into the latter
bers. ,->> ''sD '''- " '-0'- ''''' - 40 '''' W.
Tho antecedents Of Wittrock were ascertained
loaned him 81. 40 with which to go into bus.
ness in Chicago. Haight's family oonsis ed
Nashville. Tenn, where he was CONDUCTING
business as a roofing contractor. Mr.. Berry
and his sister were brought to Chicago and
identified Wenver as the man who had stopped
at their house in St. Louis in company with the
tall man. It was decided to let Weaver alone
and wait for Wittrock to show up.
During the work it was developed that ono
Oscar Cook, of Kansas City, but formerly o;
Leavenworth, had been q chum Of Wittrock.
An operative sent to shadow him report that
he had suddenly grown wealthy, and made fire..
quent trips out Of the city, although 10 was
working at his trade Of cooper. 1t was also
noted that the Jim cumnings letters were III;
ways mailed from places at which Cook had
been and On the days he had been there.
The lines were now growing closer. ana the
work conferred cred on Gnicago. Wittroc KS house:
q month when, on last Tuesday night, the
Pinkerton man was astonished to SEQ anoth' r
shadow appear and parade up and down Def re
q tall man slipped along the street and dodgad
into the house. In the meantime Ed Kinney.
Quincy, Ill, closely attended by Pink r
ton agent. There he went on drunk.
and on Wednesday he received two tele-
to billiard hall, and hanging his coat on nail
began playing billiards. While he was drink
ing at the bar the Pinkerton man slip,
ped the kilograms from his pocket and read
them. They were as follows
Come home at once. F.. is here"
"Come home at once. Fred has returned"
Both were signed Rose Wttrock. Thursday
night Robert and William PinkertOn rented n
room near Wittrocks house, In order TO divert
suspicion William represented himself as IL
pro on the morning edition of the
Daily NetOs, while Robert was employed in q
similar capacity on the afternoon ed ton of
the Daily Aeus. Thus they explained why one
was always leaving when the other WAS Just ar
irving. A close watch was keut on tho house.
and at a m Friday it was feared thur the big
man tWittrockl h Id slipped away. Robert and
o'clock Kinney came out Of the coal office and
went to Wittrock's house. A few momt nts
later he appeared with Weaver, and. after CIV
| ing a signal started down the street. Ten min
utss later the big man, who was none other
.alan Wittrock: came out. Robert Pinkerton
eignaled his detrctivest at he recognized him
aud that the men wer to be Arrest tonce.
Kinney and Wittrock went into Sparboro Bros.
saloon, near Madison and Lincoln streets,
Weaver having turned back. The next mo
Mr.. Pinkerton and his detectives entered the
saloon and found Wittrook talking to the